This article is a review of THE GUNMAN.

“No more Kevlar vests. I went from killer to cashier,” Terry Cox (Mark Rylance) to Jim Terrier (Sean Penn)

Global corporate immorality ensconced in an action thriller is still waiting for its masterwork. Weak political commentary and substandard intrigue are the usual result, from THE INTERNATIONAL to THE CONSTANT GARDENER. Corporatism as social justice vacuum could learn from its geopolitical sibling, the espionage flick (TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY) or the 1970s paranoia nightmare (THE PARALLAX VIEW). One would have thought the credit crunch would have gifted filmmakers plenty to masticate on.

Outspoken actor Sean Penn teaming up with the director, Pierre Morel, of exciting combat flicks, TAKEN and DISTRICT 13, had peaked the interest. Imagine a left leaning action movie. Bar had been set high by SNOWPIERCER, but there is plenty of room in a genre mostly about returning the world to the status quo. Unfortunately, THE GUNMAN turns out to be a tedious Sean Penn vanity project. Count the number of times he gets his shirt off, or wears bicep friendly t-shirts, and the movie starts to be an advert for gym membership. Beefiness does not make a character charismatic. Liam Neeson’s unique set of skills has opened the door for the middle-aged Hollywood male to attempt to join the exclusive club of thinking-man’s action hero. As John Travolta was so awkward and unbelievable in the terrible FROM PARIS WITH LOVE (also helmed by Morel), Penn is po-faced and wearisome here. Where is the double-Oscar winner of MYSTIC RIVER and MILK? Credits include writer and producer, as well as protagonist, can blame be passed on?

2006, the Congo, a hasty patchwork of news footage highlighting corruption, exploitation and brutality, Jim Terrier (Penn) is a private contractor protecting lucrative mineral mining operations. Dating the pretty Annie (Jasmine Trinca), she is coveted by obviously dubious pal, Felix (Javier Bardem). Sub-‘Count of Monte Cristo’-style is to have a betrayal for a lady. For some reason, Terrier agrees to join his team in murdering the Congolese Mining Minister – being ex-special forces (yawn) does not explain psychopathic tendencies. If your employee/mates ask you to assassinate a politician who wants to renegotiate international mining contracts to benefit his people, would you mindlessly pull the trigger? THE GUNMAN asks us to believe that Jim would not only partake, but the majority of the runtime be seeking redemption.

Eight years later, wisely jettisoning the earlier moustache and soul patch, Jim is back in the Congo drilling wells for an N.G.O. Proceedings would be less laughable, if our lead was not so gratingly sanctimonious. Clumsy assailants, dispatched easily, attack Terrier but importantly not excitingly – fisticuff choreography is distinctly lacking. Pulse-quickening moments were continually waited for.

Having abandoned Annie, like a total douche, she of course still holds a torch for Jim nearly a decade on. Marriage to the weaselly Felix does not prevent her sleeping with the supposedly irresistible Jim the first night he rocks up. Embarrassing love scene is luckily brief. Banal romance rekindling is briskly pushed to the stern, as a convoluted conspiracy takes predominance. Adding in Terrier suffering dizzy spells at crucial moments, one kids you not, due to a build up in brain plaque, contributes to the mounting risibility.Where is the allegory?Boredom and brainlessness are not the worst crime; wasting the likes of Bardem, Rylance, Ray Winstone and Idris Elba is.

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